Piriou Group will build three OPVs for Senegal Ministry of the Armed Forces

On 17
November in Dakar the Ministry of the Armed Forces of Senegal and the Piriou Group
representatives signed a contract for the procurement of three oceanic patrol
vessels to enter in service with the Marine Nationale Sénégalaise. The signature
was celebrated in Dakar at the presence of the President of the Republic of
Senegal, Macky Sall, and the head of the French Ministerial Delegation, Prime
Minister Edouard Philippe.

According
to the press statement released by the French group, once the contract will
come into force as planned in early 2020, the Piriou Group will start the
shipbuilding construction programme for the three OPVs, which will last 44
months, to be followed by a period of support in Senegal. No contract value has
been released, but the French group president Pascal Piriou indicated it in
“several hundred million euros”.

The press
statement doesn’t provide further details on the shipbuilding programme, except
it refers to three 62.2 meters long OPV 58S model vessels. Elaborating on the
support to be provided after delivery, the same statement refers to the Piriou
Ngom Senegal, a joint-venture established in October 2017 with the local Ngom
& Frères company. Having started operating in 2018, this company is devoted
to shipping maintenance and overhaul in the area. These activities will see a further
development with the delivery of the new OPVs as their in-service support and
maintenance will be provided by the company.

With a length
and beam of respectively 62.2 and 9.50 meters, the OPV 58S has a steel hull and
aluminum superstructures and can reach a maximum speed of 21 knots with a range
of 4,500 nautical miles at 12 knots and an operational endurance of 25 days. The
OPV 58S is a versatile platform capable to accomplish a wide range of missions,
characterized by a 360° large panoramic bridge and a C-Sharp hull design
providing optimized range and seakeeping. With accommodations for 48 persons
including 24 crew members, the OPV 58S model is equipped with a side-by-side
stern-launch and recovery station for a total of two RHIBs and a forward
multi-mission deck area capable to host up to two standard 20’ containers. The
combat system is expected to be based on the Naval Group POLARIS command
management system with an armament package which, according to the renderings,
includes a Leonardo 76/62 mm Super Rapido main gun, two Nexter Narwhal 20 mm
remotely controlled guns for asymmetric threats defence and an MBDA Simbad RC
dual Mistral 3 surface-to-air missile launcher for short-range air and surface
defence in addition to two double launchers for MBDA Marte Mk2/N surface-to-surface
missiles.

The OPV 58S class of vessels will be the largest to enter into service with the Senegalese Navy, today equipped with the Ocea-provided 58 meters Fouladou OPV 190 MkII OPV, the Raidco Marine Kedougou 45 meters and the Ferlo RPB 33 meters Ufast de Quimper patrol boats, entered into service respectively in 2016, 2015 and 2013, as well as three older patrol vessels and three coastal patrol vessels.